The 2007 AfterEllen.com Hot 100

Let’s face it: Maxim doesn’t cater to lesbians. In fact, you could say it flies in the face of all that we hold dear, especially when it declares Lindsay Lohan the hottest of them all, as it did when it published The Maxim Hot 100 List last month. So we asked you, our readers, to create your own list of hotties, and you came out in droves to nominate the women you think deserve to be on the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List. Thousands of votes later, we have the results.

How is our list different from Maxim‘s? Eight of the top 10 women on our list aren’t mentioned anywhere on the Maxim list (Angelina Jolie and Lena Headey are the exceptions), and only four of the women who made Maxim‘s top 10 (Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel and Lindsay Lohan) appear somewhere on the AfterEllen.com list.

Clearly, what straight men and lesbians find sexy in a woman is a little bit different.

“Hot” for lesbians and bisexual women comes in all ages, sizes, colors and styles, as the diversity of women on our list demonstrates — from Tina Fey (No. 7) and Helen Mirren (No. 31), to Ellen DeGeneres (No. 50), America Ferrera (No. 30) and Queen Latifah (No. 55). There’s even a conservative Republican in the mix (Angie Harmon, No. 82), proving we can still find a women sexy even if we don’t agree with her alternative lifestyle choice.

The list also shows that we like women who like us — slightly over half the women on the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List have played queer characters at one time or another. Eight of the women (nine, if you count Drew Barrymore) are openly lesbian or bisexual; they’re noted with an asterisk (*) next to their name.

But there is one thing all the women on the list have in common: They’re more than just pretty faces. Many of these women aren’t just women we like, they’re women we want to be like — women we admire as well as desire.

Now, on to the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List! The women are listed in ascending order according to your votes. We’ve provided photos and descriptions for the first 20 women, and after that, just names and photos. At the end, you can add your comments telling us what you think about the women who ended up on the list. Enjoy!

1. Leisha Hailey* As Alice on The L Word, Leisha gets more beautiful every season, and her acting skills have flourished too. Nobody has better comic timing, but she can also make us cry. And before she became our Sunday-night crush, she Murmur-ed in our ears as a pink-haired rocker who dated k.d. lang. Leisha makes it official: You’re even hotter when you’re out.

Says Leisha about being number one on our list, “Wow, I don’t even know what to say. I hope Angelina’s not mad at me. I have to say this really makes up for the time I was on the Homecoming Court in High school with my boyfriend (yes I had one) and he won and I didn’t. So thanks to everyone. I’ll try and keep up my hottness. All my love, Leisha.”

2. Angelina Jolie* Ever since she caught our eye as the tattoo-bearing tomboy in Foxfire (1996), Angelina has been an undeniable lesbian favorite. It doesn’t hurt that she played gay in Giaand publicly admits to her attraction to women. So what if she’s shacked up with Brad Pitt? She’s still the hottest bisexual actress — and mom — around.

3. Kate Winslet Kate Winslet is practically perfect. A brilliant actress who picks great roles. A beautiful woman who believes you should never skip dessert. A class act who still fancies a dirty joke. Funny. Smart. English. Just go ahead and swoon now and get it over with already.

4. Lena Headey According to the MTV Movie Awards, she gave a “breakthrough performance” in 300, but we’ve known since Imagine Me & You that Lena is hot stuff. Is it that slow smile, the sexy walk or the hair that can handle any style? Yes — and let’s not forget the accent (there’s a reason two British charmers made our top five). Watching Lena take down the bad guys in Fox’s The Sarah Connor Chronicles next season will just be icing on the cake.

5. Sarah Shahi With an Iranian father, a Spanish mother and a Texas childhood, The L Word‘s Sarah Shahi is one of the finest examples (and we do mean finest) of multiculturalism we can think of. Shahi is not only a kick-ass hottie, she can kick your ass — she holds a brown belt in karate. Sarah’s mother discouraged body self-consciousness in her daughter early on, saying, “Your boob is the same as your hand.” Thanks, Mom.